Cylinder Head Retorquing

[cloudbase]

It's something of an article of faith in our community that heads have to be retorqued following a head gasket replacement.  Is this one of those anecdotal things, or is it based on something concrete?

I've never done a motorcycle before, but have done a few cars and a whole lot of marine diesels, from auxiliary to the 900 mm bore propulsion ones.  Never had to retorque after replacement,
and never had a problem.

Your sage input is most welcome.

[Vasco DG]

It's needed on older Big blocks that use Kingerlite head gaskets and all the Smallblocks but later big blocks and the 8V's use composite steel gaskets that don't require re-torquing.

Pete

[Vasco DG]

Depends on model. G11 and B11 from about 2007/8 I think. The Calis didn't get them until slightly later I think. At the end of the day though the year doesn't matter as the big blocks were always over-torqued ex-factory and rarely cause problems until they're rebuilt. It's when the heads have been off that it's vital to follow the re-torquing schedule and since you will of had the heads off you'll know what gaskets it has. If Kingerlite? Re torque. If composite? Don't.

Pete

[cloudbase]

Thanks.  It's Klingerite, but has metal reinforcement around the cylinder bore.  This for a 2000 Quota.